1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to siding installation tools. More particularly, the invention comprises a gauge for positioning overlapping sections of building materials such as siding, clapboard, and roofing shingles during installation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When overlapping flat sections of building material such as clapboard, roofing shingles, and cedar, concrete or laminate siding are installed on vertical building surfaces, it is desirable to maintain adjacent courses even. Cedar is referred to hereinafter as a preferred wood siding, although other woods are often planed to a similar shape and for purposed of discussion will be considered as cedar. Utilizing standard commercial products, which are usually fairly straight and regularly shaped, this requires placing each succeeding member over a previously installed member such that a constant degree of overlap is established along the lengths of the two members. This can be performed by “snapping a line” or other traditional marking methods. However, it would be more efficient to utilize a method that eliminates marking and which also requires only one mechanic.
An adjustable gauge for installing siding is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,007, issued to Daniel Gordon on Mar. 10, 1992. The gauge has an elongate member and a shorter member clamped thereto. The shorter member slides along the elongate member and is adjusted by releasing the clamp. A bolt and wingnut clamp the shorter member to the elongate member. The threaded shaft of the bolt and the wingnut project from the elongate member. By contrast, no fastener projects beyond a corresponding elongate member in the present invention. The elongate and shorter members of the present invention are far easier to fabricate than is the device of Gordon.
A jack for supporting clapboards is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 425,173, issued to Edwin W. Brown on Mar. 25, 1890. This jack has a carrier block bearing projecting spikes for engaging clapboards. No such spikes exist in the present invention. Such spikes would potentially damage siding, which is a principal application of the present invention. Also, a guide element present at the rear face of the jack of Brown, where the rear face is that face located away from contact with an installed clapboard, is stepped in that it has a guide and metallic plate which occupy separate planes. By contrast, the corresponding rear surface of the present invention occupies a plane.
U.S. Pat. No. 351,722, issued to William E. Trueblood on Oct. 26, 1886; U.S. Pat. No. 631,315, issued to Thomas B. Meskill on Aug. 22, 1899; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,133,357, issued to Leo A. Gayan on May 19, 1964, illustrate gauges or the like for positioning siding. These devices are considerably more complicated than is the present invention, and have configurations considerably more irregular than the joined parallelepipeds of the present invention which are present when the novel gauge is assembled.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,100, issued to Wallace T. Wheeler on Sep. 25, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,767, issued to Christopher Colavito on Apr. 29, 1997; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,311, issued to Bernard J. Paquin on Dec. 2, 1997, illustrate siding tools that incorporate hand grips. These tools are considerably more complicated than is the present invention, and have configurations considerably more irregular than the joined parallelepipeds of the present invention which are present when the novel gauge is assembled.
The present invention further incorporates a measuring device and a level, tools frequently used while installing siding, which are absent in the above referenced prior art.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.